This is a discussion on Ring Land Fix within the General Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Accidents. forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; Excuse me if this has been asked before but I did a search and really didn't come up with to ...

Ring Land Fix

Excuse me if this has been asked before but I did a search and really didn't come up with to much. Its probably there I just couldn't find it. I have a 14' WRX and I don't have any issues, I am looking to prevent them. If I drop in a set of forged pistons and rings will that eliminate the threat of getting a ring land failure? If not what else needs to be done to prevent it?

If you don't screw up your tune you don't need to worry about it, at least for previous years. Lean conditions and detonation at high load can be avoided much more easily than replacing internals. Also, why would you preemptively replace the stuff that you would only have to replace if you had a problem anyway?

To answer directly, no it won't anyway. If you have a bad tune you will still burn out your rings and even put holes in forged pistons.

"From a little spark may burst a mighty flame." - Dante
"The stitch is lost unless the thread is knotted." - Italian proverb

Excuse me if this has been asked before but I did a search and really didn't come up with to much. Its probably there I just couldn't find it. I have a 14' WRX and I don't have any issues, I am looking to prevent them. If I drop in a set of forged pistons and rings will that eliminate the threat of getting a ring land failure? If not what else needs to be done to prevent it?

Not sure if trolling... but if not:

Not abusing your car and performing the regular recommended maintenance (proper oil/filter changes, etc.) are the best ways to avoid ringland issues. By going with aftermarket parts, you increase the chance of causing other issues due to incorrect reassembly, contamination, bad parts, etc. Plus, once you crack the block open, the dealer is well within their rights to deny any future warranty claims related to engine failure.

Don't do it. Just don't. Unless you don't care about warranty and plan on going mod crazy anyways.

If I drop in a set of forged pistons and rings will that eliminate the threat of getting a ring land failure?

Most likely, yes (at least I've never seen a forged piston crack a ringland under normal operation). Of course then your engine won't last even half as long as it would have because the looser tolerances needed for forged pistons will allow the pistons to eat up your cylinder walls and oval them out over time. You might get 50k-60k miles on it like that if the build is done perfectly (which 90% of the time it is not). To me, it wouldn't be worth it just to ease your mind about cracking ringlands.

If you don't screw up your tune you don't need to worry about it, at least for previous years. Lean conditions and detonation at high load can be avoided much more easily than replacing internals. Also, why would you preemptively replace the stuff that you would only have to replace if you had a problem anyway?

To answer directly, no it won't anyway. If you have a bad tune you will still burn out your rings and even put holes in forged pistons.

I am using the AP running stage 1 as of now. Why would I replace something preemptively? If I plan on putting bigger mods into the car forged internals would be supporting mods to that I believe. I am new to the Subaru community but I am coming from an EVO so not new to forced induction or modding cars, the EVO just happened to come with better forged internals stock. This is why I've never heard of the ring land issues before. You wouldn't replace pistons just if you had a problem.

Most likely, yes (at least I've never seen a forged piston crack a ringland under normal operation). Of course then your engine won't last even half as long as it would have because the looser tolerances needed for forged pistons will allow the pistons to eat up your cylinder walls and oval them out over time. You might get 50k-60k miles on it like that if the build is done perfectly (which 90% of the time it is not). To me, it wouldn't be worth it just to ease your mind about cracking ringlands.

Thank you for the response to the question and not about modding and blowing my car up. I just wasn't sure/still am not about all the internals in the boxer engine. I am coming from an EVO in the past, all new to me here. I plan on some bigger mods down the road, I'll just deal with that when I get there, thanks again.

Not abusing your car and performing the regular recommended maintenance (proper oil/filter changes, etc.) are the best ways to avoid ringland issues. By going with aftermarket parts, you increase the chance of causing other issues due to incorrect reassembly, contamination, bad parts, etc. Plus, once you crack the block open, the dealer is well within their rights to deny any future warranty claims related to engine failure.

Don't do it. Just don't. Unless you don't care about warranty and plan on going mod crazy anyways.

How would this question be trolling? Just performing the regular maintenance doesn't exempt you from ring land, that I know. I know of a couple that cracked a ring on a completely stock motor with no changes and no jackass driving. I didn't buy my WRX to leave it stock and be happy with what it came with. I bought this car to truly open it up in a respectable and responsible way. Im not a 19 yr old kid just trying to raise HP numbers I want the car to feel better and drive better, Im 30 years old.

Well lets start with what your goals are for this car. What do you want out of it?

You don't just crack open a block and replace things...unless you're looking into rotated 30r or 35r kind of setups...where you're going to be seeing 400whp and 25-26lbs+ of boost regularly.

Ringland failures are few and far between. Honestly I haven't heard of many with anything after 2010 models...and even then it was the 2009s which had a bad batch of engines (which many were replaced by Subaru, knowing it was a bad batch).

How would this question be trolling? Just performing the regular maintenance doesn't exempt you from ring land, that I know. I know of a couple that cracked a ring on a completely stock motor with no changes and no jackass driving. I didn't buy my WRX to leave it stock and be happy with what it came with. I bought this car to truly open it up in a respectable and responsible way. Im not a 19 yr old kid just trying to raise HP numbers I want the car to feel better and drive better, Im 30 years old.

Fair enough - no offense intended. Your initial post didn't imply your were planning on modding - and in my opinion, it would be pointless to upgrade the internals on a car that would never see anything beyond stock power. That being said, it sounds like a typical Stage II build would be what you are looking for. Typically just an up-pipe, down-pipe, and a tune. Stage II makes your car feel like a totally different animal.

As I'm sure you're aware, ringland failure is a known issue on the car. That being said, it's not nearly as prevalent as you may think. Just because it happened to someone you know, does not mean it will happen to you. And if it did, it would likely be covered under warranty - even at stage II depending on how mod friendly your dealer is.

I am using the AP running stage 1 as of now. Why would I replace something preemptively? If I plan on putting bigger mods into the car forged internals would be supporting mods to that I believe. I am new to the Subaru community but I am coming from an EVO so not new to forced induction or modding cars, the EVO just happened to come with better forged internals stock. This is why I've never heard of the ring land issues before. You wouldn't replace pistons just if you had a problem.

That is a different question, and it has a different answer.

"From a little spark may burst a mighty flame." - Dante
"The stitch is lost unless the thread is knotted." - Italian proverb

Fair enough - no offense intended. Your initial post didn't imply your were planning on modding - and in my opinion, it would be pointless to upgrade the internals on a car that would never see anything beyond stock power. That being said, it sounds like a typical Stage II build would be what you are looking for. Typically just an up-pipe, down-pipe, and a tune. Stage II makes your car feel like a totally different animal.

As I'm sure you're aware, ringland failure is a known issue on the car. That being said, it's not nearly as prevalent as you may think. Just because it happened to someone you know, does not mean it will happen to you. And if it did, it would likely be covered under warranty - even at stage II depending on how mod friendly your dealer is.

Yeah stage II would be correct as to what I want at the moment, as the time goes on I am sure that will grow though as well. I just wanted to know if that would fix the issue and just get it over with. I have no clue about how mod friendly my dealer is but if it becomes a problem stage II isnt hard to return to stock and just reflash stock tune.

Well lets start with what your goals are for this car. What do you want out of it?

You don't just crack open a block and replace things...unless you're looking into rotated 30r or 35r kind of setups...where you're going to be seeing 400whp and 25-26lbs+ of boost regularly.

Ringland failures are few and far between. Honestly I haven't heard of many with anything after 2010 models...and even then it was the 2009s which had a bad batch of engines (which many were replaced by Subaru, knowing it was a bad batch).

I dont have any horsepower number goals as they vary greatly dyno to dyno. I would never push a stock internal engine more than 100whp than stock, that is just asking for trouble. That being said it isnt too difficult to reach that number thus my question.

I have no clue about how mod friendly my dealer is but if it becomes a problem stage II isnt hard to return to stock and just reflash stock tune.

Problem with that logic is that once they deny your claim your car will be listed as modded, then it doesn't matter if you return to stock or not, they will just say it was "previously modded". And if they wanted to go to the trouble, they can check to see of your ECU has ever been flashed (not likely tho).. so it doesn't really matter if the stock tune is on there or not. Not to mention it would be fraud to try to pass your car off as never modded.

Or, just as likely, they will claim "abuse", and deny your warranty claim.. then it doesn't matter if you were ever modded or not.

I dont have any horsepower number goals as they vary greatly dyno to dyno. I would never push a stock internal engine more than 100whp than stock, that is just asking for trouble. That being said it isnt too difficult to reach that number thus my question.

Try uncorking it at stage II - that stuff is all relevant to a higher HP build too, but if you're happy with it there you can use the money for pistons etc. on suspension.

It just isn't the place to start, and the vast majority will stop before it is needed.

"From a little spark may burst a mighty flame." - Dante
"The stitch is lost unless the thread is knotted." - Italian proverb

vBulletin Message

Errors

The following errors occurred with your submission

Quick Reply

Register Now

Please enter the name by which you would like to log-in and be known on this site.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Email Address:

Please enter a valid email address for yourself. We strongly suggest that you stay away from using aol, yahoo, msn, and hotmail accounts. Sometimes the mail server blocks the emails from our server. As a result you will not receive any notifications including the confirmation email.

Insurance:

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name:

Password:

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.